Our History

A book such as this one, giving a potted history of a wonderful rugby club, wouldn’t be complete without aglance back to where it all began. Given the fact that as authors we weren’t around back in the early 50’s it issometimes awkward to get a truly factual story of those days into print. This book is heavily weighted in favourof the ‘modern times’ but it would be grossly unfair not to make an attempt to paint a picture of how everythingstarted, of the people who were there to help the club onto its feet and of those who served the club either asplayers or committee men throughout that period. Thanks to the long memories of people like Graham Munkleyand Allan Rogers we have been able to piece together a brief and historical account of the club’s first thirty or soyears into the modern era, and we’ve also dug up some great photographs from those days.Penallta was formed around 1952, primarily by a group of miners from Penallta colliery, and played its firstfixture that year.Amongst the founding members was the Pit Manager, Arthur Sullivan, the Pit Sergeant John,and the timekeeper at Penallta colliery, Len Hatcher. Len prided himself of knowing the name and registrationnumber of each and every miner. Intimate knowledge of the mining fraternity helped the canny old timekeeperto talk the bigger miners into becoming forwards and the skinnier miners into becoming backs. One can imagineLen sat there with his timepiece, one eye kept on miners turning up late, the other on someone with the idealphysique to play flank forward.Covered in the requisite dust and soot, the groups of mining men would convene for the usual early eveningrefreshments in the local pubs. It was probably in one of these smoky dens that the idea of a rugby side formeditself. That idea all those years back in the early 50’s was the birthmark of what has become Penallta RFC today.Mining, comradeship and togetherness brought the inaugural Penallta side together back then, and it is thoseroots that keep the club strong in the modern era.Alongside the founders were brothers Jack and Howard Whittle from Hengoed, Bill Beer and a number ofnon-miners drawn from Ystrad Mynach and the surrounding area. Len would sell tote tickets to the miners andrally them to the cause of Penallta. It certainly worked. Since 1952 Penallta has run as a club and produced arugby team each year – the successes of today are due to Len, his cabal of committee men, the miners and thosetote tickets.Len died in 1998 as the sitting club President, sadly missing out on the Brewer’s victory he so desperatelywanted to witness and the success of his club achieving WRU Status. He would be immensely proud if he couldsee the club today. As Graham Munkley so poignantly says, “Penallta was Len’s family, and Len was our family”.Len was replaced as President by Allan Rogers, another local boy and former MEP who was there at the birth ofPenallta and still has a very active role within the club.Throughout the early years Penallta battled on due to the hard work of very few voluntary workers, alwaysmanaging to keep the show on the road. Len, along with Allan Rogers and Jack McKenzie were the Trusteeswhen Penallta raised the money to purchase a clubhouse alongside Penallta pit. The early sides of the 50sincluded some good players who served the club for years with distinction. Players such as Bobby ‘Chunky’ Fowler,Ron and Bill Carroll, John Court, Bobby ‘Donkey’ Jones, Gerald James, Frank Price, Reggie Carter and Johnny andAlan Morgan all represented the club during those years when Britain, apparently, “had never had it so good’.The photograph of the first ever Penallta side can be seen inside this book. Will Jones (the Driver) and Bill ‘ThePiano’ Davies are in there decked out in Penallta colours. What’s all that about?Graham Munkley joined the club in the early 60s. Graham, now a life member through his impeccable serviceto the club, was originally asked by Len to help Penallta out on Saturdays by utilising his skills as a qualified FirstAider. Graham worked for Penallta pit for years as the coalmine version of a ‘rub a dub man’. With his bucket ofdirty water and fungal sponge he began his loyal Penallta service by treating injured players each Saturday. Lenspotted the vision and pace with which Graham hurtled towards a ‘man down’ and it wasn’t long beforeMunkley was wearing a number 14 shirt and representing the club as a player. Typically for a tough-mindedpitman who looked after the boys, Graham managed to miss the births of both of his children because Penalltahad a game. Graham had caught the rugby bug, possibly from his brown sponge.In the 60’s Penallta developed into a strong side. Munkley was joined by Clive Jones and his brother Ponty andboth of them made a big difference to the ability of the side. Clive was one of Penallta’s best ever players, playingat prop forward throughout his whole career. He was regarded far and wide as an outstanding player. His brother Ponty was a scrum half for many years and played on into the late 70s – he too is regarded as one of the Penalltagreats. Clive still watches Penallta every week. Given his size and his knowledge of the game, and given ourrecent scrummaging exploits, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Clive might be asked to come backtraining.It is unfortunate that playing records from these early years are not available. Not until Lee Acreman startedcataloguing appearances on a player by player basis in the mid 70s did the club have any official records.However, it is known that some players, like Clive and Ponty, who played for Penallta for years, may well haveexceeded the 250 cap mark, but without official records they will never be recognised for it.In the 1967/1968 season Penallta played against a Welsh International 15 led by Alun Pask. The club lost butmanaged to score a try through Mike Thomas, father of today’s second team coach Mike. During the game,Welsh player Brian Thomas kicked the ball upfield to Penallta straight into Clive Jones’ hands. Returning thefavour, Clive kicked it straight back and shouted to the international players, “we don’t need your help, we’ll winthe game by ourselves”. After the match, Clive led the boys with his usual singsongs, singing his favourites such as‘Put Your Sweet Lips a Little Closer to the Phone’ and ‘Distant Drums’.As the Penallta club emerged into the 1970s it was still very much a home to a village side and a social outletto its players and the wider mining community. Throughout the 70s the club stayed at the Cefn Llywna onPenybryn hill, using the building as its clubhouse. Len, Allan Rogers and Bill Beer and the Whittles all continuedtheir hard work, as did the players. Despite job losses and seemingly endless downsizing due to price pressuresfrom overseas, the NCB’s pit wheels continued to turn, and its miners kept joining the pit team.In the mid 70s Penallta were captained for two seasons by another player who would go on to be a longservingand important member of the club. He was a prop called Lance Phillips. Lance spent years anchoring oneside of the Penallta pack with Paul Ferris on the other and since his retirement as a player has continued to workon Penallta’s committee in a variety of roles, recently being heavily involved in club sponsorship. Perhaps Lance’sbiggest gift to the club was the introduction of his younger brother Craig, who throughout the 80s and early 90swas Penallta’s Number 8 and six-time captain and arguably the club’s best ever forward. It was around the era ofLance’s captaincy that Jackie Griffiths, a former Penallta hooker who had left to play for Blackwood, returned tothe club as its coach. Jackie had played for Penallta for years, and was an excellent, hard front row player. As acoach, he had a huge impact on the club, improving the forward play by putting his coaching emphasis on fitnessand making the boys into a fast and mobile unit. Jackie worked through the 70s with players such as Jeff Rees,Mervyn Payne, Tommy Higgs, Bobby Spiller, George Griffiths, Len and John Harding, Ken Dando, Aubrey Price,Michael and Gary Hamer, Brian Court, Dilwyn Evans, Rob Jones and of course, the evergreen Munkley, and eachyear he oversaw an improvement. In the mid 70s he was joined by younger players who immediately becameassets to the side. Local teenagers such as Lee Acreman, Craig Phillips, Mark Griffiths, Bobby Griffin and GilbertDavies all learned their trade under Jackie in the 70s, before all representing Penallta right through the goldenera of the 1980s. Jackie became the catalyst for the meteoric improvement of rugby standards at the club.In the very late 70s Penallta took a further step towards the direction of club-enhancement. They introduced ayouth side, and in it were two players who would both become two of the very best to ever play for the club. TheYouth team featured a young fly-half called Jeff ‘K9’ Davies and his moustachioed centre partner Leighton‘Lusher’ John. The pair had class. Long before sexy rugby made headlines across the world K9 and Lusher wereproducing the goods at Penallta each Saturday. They joined the senior side in 1979, joining Lee Acreman, Griff,Giller and Craig. Gradually, a very good side was beginning to take shape and Penallta would start winningendless amounts of trophies.The Penallta side throughout the 80s and into the early 90s enjoyed unparalleled success. They also stucktogether as a side and between them earned a mountain of 1st team caps. Players such as Nigel James, RobPurnell, Alan Thomas, Rob Jones, Colin Powell, John Rowlands, Mike Flanagan, Dai Thomas, Colin Taylor and MikeOliver also featured for the side during the winning years of the 80s. So did many, many others.For the first time in its history, Penallta began growing significantly as a club. A mini section started up and aconsistent youth team started to produce more players. In the early 80s Penallta began a second side – so manynew players had joined the ranks that the club managed to field two teams each Saturday. Munkley was run offhis feet running between two fields with his bucket and sponge. On the field while things were going well,things went sadly wrong off it. The mining strikes, the pickets and the harsh economic conditions of the early 80sdid little to help people in their daily lives. Miners, on strike, struggled to earn a living and the communitysuffered. Penallta colliery, for years becoming more and more depleted in its workforce, eventually closed down.Penallta looked after its players as well as possible, and at one point when the pit closed found that many of itsplayers needed to find work. It wasn’t an easy time for the valleys, but the Penallta spirit lived on nevertheless.The 2nd side of the early 80s was full of legendary individuals. If the 1st team was about class and talent with the rugby ball then the 2nd team had different types of artists. They had players like Tyrone ‘Nippy’ Bullock,Tattoo, Dessie Rees, Paul ‘Pastie’ Hollifield, Mickey Williams, Nigsy and Paul Ferris and they certainly knew how tohave a laugh. It was around this era that Penallta started regularly touring parts of the UK, leaving their indeliblestain on hitherto unvisited places. On tour is where characters are born – that legacy lives on amongst today’smodern tourists, everyone trying to be the new Nippy or new Tattoo.The Youth side of the late 80s was also a triumph. Players like Steve Barratt, Darren Hooper and Mike Voyle allemerged from the Penallta ranks to enjoy long and successful careers. Mike Voyle played 22 times for Wales,Darren Hooper represented the Welsh Districts and Steve Barratt played for may top clubs, including Pontypriddand Newbridge. Finally managing to consistently field a youth side year after year, and then monopolising on thesuccesses by starting up a Junior club in 1991, a club which is flourishing today, Penallta can now look to ahead asa club with not just a great history, but one with a great future.The 1990s and the 2000s were up and down times for the club. This book is largely representative of themodern era, inclusive of the downs of Rob Moore’s awful injury, the relocation to the rickety old Nalgo, the newsthat our pitch will soon become an A&E ward, but also to the ups of wonderful Youth sides, great attackingrugby, the achievement of WRU status and the headlong rush up the leagues. We hope we have done a bit ofjustice to the ‘old days’. We are sure that stories from those days would make a great book of its own. None ofPenallta’s players will ever be forgotten, some are long gone now, some are ageing, but all are part of thetapestry of good times, hard times and times of brotherhood that make the club so great.